Anthony Flack wrote: Sun Aug 13, 2023 7:03 pm A human with a pencil is Turing Complete, meaning they can theoretically solve any problem that is computable. Which means we could solve any problem that a digital super-intelligence could solve, given enough time. As soon as we worked out what to do with a pencil, the rest was inevitable, it's simply a question of how fast.
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^ Thanks for the info, this is very helpful.

But is it the case then that it's merely a question of scale? As in, with AI we're working with the same basic building blocks and processes (as well as we know them) by which the human brain and nervous system works (response to stimuli, pattern recognition, optimizing modification based on accumulated experience) so that theoretically any kind of behaviour found in humans could emerge or be constructed in a computer? That there is no "secret thing" we're still hoping to find, but only a matter of complexity? ("only" of course being relative here.)

There is a mathematical boundary to what can be solved by computation. I don't know if the human brain exists within that boundary. Maybe?

Could human-like consciousness emerge in a computer? I think it's not just a matter of scale, racking up slabs of raw neurons and setting them to work, but also billions of years of evolution that have provided us with a specialised and highly tuned set of preconfigured head-modules that we come pre-loaded with, the detailed workings of which still remain largely a mystery to us.

But I do see a kind of shadow of ourselves in generative AI like Midjourney. What we see isn't what our eyes tell us. I mean there's a massive blind spot right in the middle of our vision and we don't even see it. There's a kind of Midjourney in our head, in-between our eyes and our consciousness, hallucinating our vision for us. We see what we expect to see. There's something about generative AI that feels familiar, it feels brain-like in its functioning, rather than equation-like. Like maybe this really is how we work.

Our inner Midjourney can generate spontaneous images from noise, and do it faster than any computer, when we're asleep.

I think most public service jobs will be done by AI and AI enabled androids in the future.

Since humanity is imperfect, and the tendency of citizens, parents, and kids to manufacture outrage for even the most human of gaffes, slights or errs exists, I can't help thinking that things like public administration, policing, and teaching will become jobs that are harder to fill given the fraught politics and both justified and unjustifiable outrage at the humanity of those very human public servants - whether benign or evil, intended or accidental.

So much is given to the idea of AI taking over menial or repetitive jobs, and the further destabilization of the working class, but I have the feeling that AI will also take over the sector of public service where the onus of accountability and zero-bias will be too much for most humans to be willing to take on. Even the best will be aware that the smallest slip, gaffe, or error under pressure will be too much risk for them, and they will eschew these careers to be handled by truly objective and calculated servants that won't have lives destroyed when they make a mistake - they'll simply be deactivated and reprogrammed with a patch to correct whatever previous errors occurred.

Also, just like it's terribly inefficient to send humans into space, and have so many resources and weight dedicated to life support, policing with humans is the same way. Why have giant bags of flesh chasing perps around at high-speed in big heavy vehicles, at the risk of other motorists and pedestrians, as well as the self-preservation instincts of the flesh-bags themselves getting in the way of effective LE, when you could just follow perps around with near-silent drones to keep constant tabs until they can be apprehended at the most opportune time - while taking a shit, sleeping, or painting Napoleonic miniatures.

I, for one, welcome our AI public servants, and of course, the billionaires that will build and update them.

Went to a concert tonight and didn't recognize one song that everyone else seemed to know and love. So I decided to try to "Shazam" it. It didn't return any results. This was somehow reassuring.

In preparation for an upcoming conference a friend has been going over abstracts and title talks. According to them much of it was drab until they got to Cinematic Mindscapes: High-quality Video Reconstruction from Brain Activity. Making it possible to record one's dreams is worrying, but also rad in terms of technological advancement. I'm just left wondering what are the positive outcomes of such an advancement, and how would a much dumber, fascistic administration fit into the equation?

rsmurphy wrote: Wed Nov 29, 2023 7:58 am In preparation for an upcoming conference a friend has been going over abstracts and title talks. According to them much of it was drab until they got to Cinematic Mindscapes: High-quality Video Reconstruction from Brain Activity. Making it possible to record one's dreams is worrying, but also rad in terms of technological advancement. I'm just left wondering what are the positive outcomes of such an advancement, and how would a much dumber, fascistic administration fit into the equation?

Have you seen that episode of Black Mirror with the insurance company viewing people's memories?

I need to read up on this though. It sounds very far away.

andyman wrote: Wed Nov 29, 2023 8:13 am Have you seen that episode of Black Mirror with the insurance company viewing people's memories?

Need to catch-up on Black Mirror episodes.

I need to read up on this though. It sounds very far away.

I fear nothing is that far away anymore.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... ng-targets

AI target-creation platform called “the Gospel”.

I'm having a hard time coming up with a punch-line.

andyman wrote: Wed Nov 29, 2023 8:13 am

rsmurphy wrote: Wed Nov 29, 2023 7:58 am In preparation for an upcoming conference a friend has been going over abstracts and title talks. According to them much of it was drab until they got to Cinematic Mindscapes: High-quality Video Reconstruction from Brain Activity. Making it possible to record one's dreams is worrying, but also rad in terms of technological advancement. I'm just left wondering what are the positive outcomes of such an advancement, and how would a much dumber, fascistic administration fit into the equation?

Have you seen that episode of Black Mirror with the insurance company viewing people's memories?

I need to read up on this though. It sounds very far away.

This and Birdman were my introduction to Andrea Riseborough, so thank you, Charlie Brooker and Alejandro González Iñárritu.

People have been fantasising about a machine to record your dreams since forever.

I reckon if they do manage to invent one, the public will be bored of it within two weeks.